Neighborhood Engagement Process (NEP)

The Process for updating the Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance (NARO).

The Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance (NARO) guides the work of the Office of Neighborhood Coordination (ONC). In the Fall of 2017, City Councilors expressed an intent to address the weaknesses and shortcomings in the NARO.

NEP Update

April 15, 2022

The first draft of the revised NARO legislation was sent to all neighborhood associations on file with the Office of Neighborhood Coordination (ONC) in January 2021. Extensive feedback from neighborhood associations and coalitions was received, and the draft legislation was subsequently revised to incorporate much of this community feedback. The revised draft NARO legislation was introduced at the City Council meeting on Monday, August 2, 2021, and was assigned bill number O-21-71 in the Legistar system. O-21-71 was amended at LUPZ and at Full Council, but was voted down at the September 20, 2021 City Council meeting. A revised bill that incorporates all of the amendments of the previous bill was introduced at the March 21, 2022 City Council meeting, and was scheduled for the City Council meeting on Monday, April 18, 2022 for final action. This new bill is O-22-15. A color coded reference version is available here. The text in red shows amendments approved at LUPZ to O-21-71, text in blue shows amendments approved at City Council, and text in green shows revisions to correct formatting errors.

June 7, 2021

The City Council passed Resolution R-21-166, amending R-17-233, Enactment Number R-2017-095, To Extend The Effective Date Of The Interim Procedures While The Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance Is Updated. This resolution extends the date of the Interim Procedures through December 31, 2021 or until such time as the revised NARO goes into effect. View the June 7, 2021 resolution.

December 7, 2020

The City Council passed Resolution R-20-116, amending R-17-233, Enactment Number R-2017-095, To Extend The Effective Date Of The Interim Procedures While The Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance Is Updated. This resolution extends the date of the Interim Procedures through June 30, 2021. View the Dec. 7, 2020 resolution.

June 15, 2020

The City Council passed Resolution R-20-58, amending R-17-233, Enactment Number R-2017-095, extending the effective date of the Interim Procedures while the Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance is updated. This resolution extends the date of the Interim Procedures through Thursday, December 31, 2020. View the June 15, 2020 resolution.

February 6, 2020

The City Council passed a resolution Amending R-17-233, Enactment Number R-2017-095 extending the effective date of the interim procedures while the NARO is updated until July 1, 2020. View the Feb. 6, 2020 resolution.

Related Legislation

November 15, 2019

The City Council will hear a presentation at the upcoming City Council meeting, Monday, November 18 at 5:00 p.m., on Phase 3 of the Neighborhood Engagement Process (NEP), and we encourage our neighborhoods to attend. Everette Hill of Social Innovation Strategies Group LLC, and Eduardo Martinez of Meridian Strategies, the two lead facilitators for the NEP process, will present a brief overview of their findings from their extensive outreach to neighborhood associations citywide, and answer questions from the City Council. Please note this is a presentation only. The Council will not take any action on the NEP at this meeting. We greatly appreciate the feedback from all of our neighborhoods and look forward to seeing you at the City Council meeting. A flyer for distribution and reference purposes is available for you to download here. NEP Presentation Flyer

To view the Phase III Summary Report that will be the basis of tonight's Council presentation by Mr. Hill and Mr. Martinez, click the link to the right. Phase III Summary Report.

September 24, 2019

As we near the beginning of Fall, our community engagement team, through the Neighborhood Engagement Process (NEP), has reached out to nearly all neighborhood associations and homeowners associations multiple times, by phone and email. One goal of the engagement process was to create equity by accessing neighborhoods from everywhere in the City in order to provide input to the update of the Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance (NARO). Our team has worked diligently to accomplish this goal.

We want to thank each and every one of you who has returned our calls and emails to arrange in-person Choice Dialogues. We appreciate having lively discussions with your neighborhoods and have enjoyed gathering your insights and your input about potential changes and recommended amendments for the impending NARO update. Your insight is invaluable.

To date, we have met with nearly 100 different neighborhood associations and homeowner associations, spoken in person to over 200 residents, and are rapidly coming to the end of our community input and community engagement process. If you have been contacted by one of our facilitators but have not yet had an opportunity to get back with us to schedule a Choice Dialogue with your neighborhood association or homeowners association, we would love to schedule a time to meet with you! Our deadline for holding Choice Dialogues within neighborhoods is October 10, 2019.

We will continue to work steadily into the early fall to coordinate our remaining Choice Dialogues and to capture community input data that will support the City Council in their process to rewrite the NARO.

August 2019

As the summer begins to turn into Fall, the NEP process has continued to move steadily along. The facilitation team has worked diligently over the summer months to try to ensure that there is equity in the community’s ability to engage the Choice Dialogue community input process. Thus far, we have been able to gather and meet with 68 different neighborhood and homeowners associations, while still working to convene people as a part of this process. And while so much of the Phase III input process has been focused on hearing community voice from the neighborhood and homeowners associations, we will also seek input from community members at large. Hearing all the voices of the community and creating pathways for engagement from everyone in the community, including young people, is a really important aspect in this project.

The community convening portion of this project will continue through the end of September, and we will continue to provide updates on the project and our progress. To learn more about the Neighborhood Engagement Process or the facilitators, you can access their bios at: http://www.cabq.gov/office-of-neighborhood-coordination/neighborhood-engagement-process. They will continue to keep working diligently into the early fall to coordinate additional choice dialogues and to capture community input data that will support the Office of Neighborhood Coordination and the Albuquerque City Council in their process to update the NARO. To ensure that your neighborhood association can be reached by the NEP team, please make sure that your contact information (email, phone & address) are up to date with the ONC.

The Office of Neighborhood Coordination (ONC) is in the middle of the Neighborhood Engagement Process (NEP). This process is in place to gather information from community stakeholders that will help shape the amendments to the Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance (NARO). The NEP process includes the hiring of not only the independent contractor Social Innovations Strategy Group (SISGroup), but also facilitators employed by SISGroup to assist. These facilitators are: Dr. Rudy Garcia, Jamie Welles, Barbara Garcia, Antonio Maestas, and Lara Bryson. These facilitators, along with Everette Hill, will be continuing to contact stakeholders in the community to gather their input. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact ONC and we can clarify any issues. Please take a minute and familiarize yourself with all of the facilitators. See the bios for NARO Facilitators.

May 2019

The Neighborhood Engagement Process (NEP) was established as a process to collect community input on the elements that can be integrated in the update of the Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance (NARO). It has been a fast-paced spring and we are gearing up for an eventful summer! Read the latest update on the NEP here for May 2019!

Since the first quarter of 2018, the City Council and the Office of Neighborhood Coordination (ONC) have been engaged in the Neighborhood Engagement Process (NEP), which is designed to identify community needs to inform updates to the Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance (NARO) and to initiate an ongoing dialogue and long-term, reciprocal relationship between the ONC and each of our city’s 263 neighborhood associations. Read an update on the NEP.

Process Goals

To establish an ongoing dialogue between ONC and neighborhood associations
To create equity in the engagement process
To ensure more representative and democratic associations
To encourage vibrant and thriving neighborhoods
To improve the clarity of and have proper expectations for the NARO
To help inform ONC on how best to support neighborhoods

Potential Products from the Process

Strengthened relationships between ONC, neighborhood groups, and other City departments.
The NARO could be amended with clear language giving more authority to ONC to strengthen coordination between associations across the City.
The NARO could be simplified to keep effective elements and clarify elements that result in conflict, confusion, and disagreements.
The NARO rewrite may include additional guidelines or resolutions that identify internal ONC procedures to support neighborhood goals, priorities, and values. The process may include clearer guidelines regarding neighborhood association best practices and create trainings for neighborhoods to build capacity.

This is why we need your involvement and your voice. What do you see as the future of the relationship between ONC and neighborhood associations? What is the identity and purpose of your association? Send your ideas, suggestions and thoughts to: [email protected]

Meet the Facilitators!

If you would like to know more about the facilitators, please access their bios and other information on the Neighborhood Engagement Process page.